Changing Substrate?

[damanax]

I've made so many boards this week 

 
I was wondering, what is the easiest way to replace gravel with sand in a planted, stocked tank? I'd like to get it changed for my cories 

 
I've finally found a place in town that stocks playsand

  . I've got a few days off work after Wednesday so I'd like to get it done during that time. The current fish will be going into a container with the heater while I change the substrate so I need to be rather quick.
 
Do I need anything under the sand for the plants? I have vallis, spiral crypt and a variety of swords in there.
 
Also, does anyone know of a good way to estimate how many KGs of sand I'll need? My tank is 122'38'45cm.
 
Thanks 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm going to copy and paste an explanation I made on my thread HERE, sorry it's long. It might not be the easiest either but I didn't lose any fish  
 
"To switch over we took all of the decorations and put them in a plastic bin. Then we took the plants out and put them in a bucket with some water.
Then we lowered the water level and caught the fish and put them in a 10g tank (you could put them in a bucket, I just figured they'd appreciate the 10g tank rather than a 5g bucket)
 
We filled the plant bucket and the 10g with the water from their tank so the change hopefully wouldn't be as shocking, since if we hadn't done that it'd be like a 100% W/C rather than like a 75% or something.
Took out the rest of the water, scooped all the gravel out. We used our nets which was a bad idea, had to buy new ones as picking up all that heavy gravel made the netting almost fall off. We put the gravel in a bucket.
 
Filled the tank with a little water to clean up some of the muck which I think was actually mulm and we probably should have left it there now that I think about it. Oops. Sucked that water back out.
Cleaned the sand and poured it into the tank, put the decoratons and plants back in, filled it up with mostly new water, then added the water from the plant bucket.
 
Then sucked a good bit of water out of the 10g into a bucket and poured that in the tank, then netted the fish and put them in and added the rest of the water from the tank they had been sitting in.
I forget if we turned the tank lights off or not, but it's a good idea to have them off to reduce stress."
 
I don't know if there is anything you'd need under the sand but putting root tabs into it would be appreciated especially by the crypts and swords.
I have read 1-2lbs per gallon but not sure what the conversion is. I think we used 60 lbs in our 55g.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

From what nin said, thats about 1/2 kilo every 4-5 liters.

 

[damanax]

Sounds straightforward enough. I'd use a tank to house the fish but I don't have a spare at the moment.
 
I've got Anubias attached to some of the wood in the tank, it won't physically fit in any buckets I own so would the bathtub work? Or should the Anubias be ok for a little bit? 

 
Ellie, is that half a kilo for every 4-5litres or 1-2kilos for every 4-5litres? Just making sure before I buy a whole bunch of sand I won't need 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I have to use google to convert so sorry if it's not quite right. .5-1kg per 3.7l..or something
You don't have to use another tank, I just had one to spare and thought it'd be nicer than a bucket.
 
The anubias should be fine I'd think. Maybe lay a damp paper towel on it or something to keep it moist?

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

What nin said, except I rounded to 4

 

[mnlymandan]

 i divided my tank into three sections, then during my weekly water changes i took the fish out, and removed and replaced the substrate in 1 section a week for three weeks.  i also used rock in-between the new and the old substrate to minimize the mixing.  that way i didn't get rid of all the bacteria in the gravel at once.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The most important post in this thread is the one by mnlymandan. Despite what you may read in other threads here and on other sites, there is definitely a decent amount of good bacteria on the substrate. In tanks with no plants rooted in the substrate, the bacteria will be found in the top 1/2 inch or so. In planted tanks there is much more bacteria and much deeper as well.
 
If you can not do the changeover in several steps, then monitor your ammonia levels for a few days to a week after the change over and be prepared to deal with ammonia. if you do have to deal with ammonia it also means you will get nitrite and may need to handle that also.
 
This would not be a full blown recycle but a need to have the lost bacteria get replaced by the balance of the bacteria reproducing.
 
Just an FYI, I have a need to break down a number of my breeder tanks several times a year to remove offspring. I have to remove all of the decor to do this. For many years I have used a Rubbermaid storage contained (about 16 gals) filled with water. I add an airstone and heater and the tank contents go into it. There is no reason that this could not include fish. In case you have jumpers, I would suggest placing the lid loosely on the container to prevent floor fishfrom  happening.

 

[damanax]

Ah yeah that makes sense. 
 
I'll be changing one of my 65l tanks tomorrow, mainly to see if I like play sand. If not, I'll have to go hunting around town again